Mojave Desert Holdings, LLC v. Crocs, Inc.

Case: 20-1167 Document: 65 Page: 1 Filed: 02/11/2021
United States Court of Appeals
for the Federal Circuit
______________________
MOJAVE DESERT HOLDINGS, LLC,
Appellant
v.
CROCS, INC.,
Appellee
______________________
2020-1167
______________________
Appeal from the United States Patent and Trademark
Office, Patent Trial and Appeal Board in No. 95/002,100.
______________________
ON MOTION
______________________
MATT BERKOWITZ, Shearman & Sterling LLP, Menlo
Park, CA, argued for appellant. Also represented by YUE
WANG; PATRICK ROBERT COLSHER, MARK A. HANNEMANN,
THOMAS R. MAKIN, New York, NY; LAURA KIERAN
KIECKHEFER, San Francisco, CA.
MICHAEL BERTA, Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP,
San Francisco, CA, argued for appellee. Also represented
by SEAN MICHAEL CALLAGY; MARK CHRISTOPHER FLEMING,
Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, Boston, MA;
BENJAMIN S. FERNANDEZ, Denver, CO.
______________________
Case: 20-1167 Document: 65 Page: 2 Filed: 02/11/2021
2 MOJAVE DESERT HOLDINGS, LLC v. CROCS, INC.
Before NEWMAN, DYK, and O’MALLEY, Circuit Judges.
DYK, Circuit Judge.
ORDER
U.S.A. Dawgs, Inc. appeals from a United States Pa-
tent and Trademark Office (USPTO) decision finding
Crocs, Inc.’s design patent (No. D517,789) patentable.
U.S.A. Dawgs and Mojave Desert Holdings, LLC move to
substitute Mojave as U.S.A. Dawgs’s successor-in-interest.
For the reasons stated below, we grant U.S.A. Dawgs and
Mojave’s motion to substitute.
BACKGROUND
Crocs, Inc. is the owner of U.S. Design Patent No.
D517,789 (“the ’789 patent”), titled “Footwear,” which in-
cludes a single claim for the “ornamental design for foot-
wear” and seven figures illustrating the claim. According
to Crocs, the ’789 patent “discloses what has become [its]
iconic foam-molded clog design.” J.A. 1698.
On August 6, 2012, Crocs sued U.S.A. Dawgs, Inc. for
infringement of the ’789 patent in the United States Dis-
trict Court for the District of Colorado based on U.S.A.
Dawgs’s manufacture and sale of its own form of foam-
molded clog footwear. Shortly after Crocs filed, on August
24, 2012, U.S.A. Dawgs filed a third-party request for inter
partes reexamination of the ’789 patent at the USPTO un-
der 35 U.S.C. § 311. 1 The USPTO ordered the reexamina-
tion on November 19, 2012. The district court stayed the
proceedings in light of the inter partes reexamination. The
examiner rejected the claim as anticipated under 35 U.S.C.
1 All statutory provisions from Title 35 cited in this
Order are to the statutes prior to the passage of the Leahy-
Smith America Invents Act, 125 Stat. 284 (2011).
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MOJAVE DESERT HOLDINGS, LLC v. CROCS, INC. 3
§ 102(b). Crocs appealed to the Patent Trial and Appeal
Board.
While the appeal was pending before the Board, on
January 31, 2018, U.S.A. Dawgs filed for Chapter 11 bank-
ruptcy in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Dis-
trict of Nevada, where U.S.A. Dawgs is incorporated. In
May, U.S.A. Dawgs moved for the bankruptcy court to ap-
prove the sale of all of its assets to a recently formed entity,
Dawgs Holdings, LLC, “free and clear of all liens, claims,
and encumbrances subject to 11 U.S.C. § 363(b) and (f).” 2
On July 20, 2018, the bankruptcy court approved the
sale of U.S.A. Dawgs’s assets to Dawgs Holdings pursuant
to the terms and conditions of an Asset Purchase Agree-
ment. The Asset Purchase Agreement assigned Dawgs
Holdings
[a]ll of [U.S.A. Dawgs’s] right, title and interest in,
to and under all of the assets, properties and rights
of every kind and nature, whether real, personal or
mixed, tangible or intangible (including intellec-
tual property and goodwill), of [U.S.A. Dawgs],
wherever located and whether now existing or
hereafter acquired, owned, leased, licensed or used
or held for use in or relating to the operation of
[U.S.A. Dawgs’s] business as of the Closing Date.
J.A. 3217. In its order approving the sale, the bankruptcy
court stated that
the Sale [was] not free and clear of any Claims
Crocs, Inc. . . . may hold for patent infringement oc-
curring post-Closing Date by any person including
the Prevailing Bidder, or any defenses Crocs may
2 Mot. at 6, In re U.S.A. Dawgs, No. 18-bk-10453
(Bankr. D. Nev. May 25, 2018), ECF No. 314.
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4 MOJAVE DESERT HOLDINGS, LLC v. CROCS, INC.
have in respect of any litigation claims that are sold
pursuant to the Sale, including any rights to setoff
or recoupment against such claims to the extent
validly existing under applicable law (together, the
“Retained Rights”) and the Retained Rights are
preserved in all respects.
J.A. 3175 (footnote omitted).
U.S.A. Dawgs moved to distribute the net proceeds
from the sale of its assets and to dismiss its Chapter 11
bankruptcy case. 3 On August 21, 2018, the bankruptcy
court granted U.S.A. Dawgs’s motion, authorizing the dis-
tribution of the net sale proceeds and dismissing U.S.A.
Dawgs’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy case.
Thereafter, on August 15, 2018, Dawgs Holdings as-
signed all rights, including explicitly the claims asserted by
U.S.A. Dawgs in the District of Colorado action and the in-
ter partes reexamination, to Mojave. On October 23, 2018,
U.S.A. Dawgs dissolved but continued to exist for limited
purposes, including “prosecuting and defending suits, ac-
tions, proceedings and claims of any kind or character by
3 “The general rule is that a distribution on pre-peti-
tion debt in a Chapter 11 plan should not take place except
pursuant to a confirmed plan of reorganization, absent ex-
traordinary circumstances.” Rosenberg Real Estate Equity
Fund III v. Air Beds, Inc. (In re Air Beds, Inc.), 92 B.R. 419,
422 (Bankr. 9th Cir. 1988). There is, however, an exception
to the general rule, which permits a bankruptcy court to
approve a “structured dismissal” in appropriate circum-
stances, as U.S.A. Dawgs requested here. See Czyzewski v.
Jevic Holding Corp., 137 S. Ct. 973, 978–82, 985 (2017)
(discussing structured dismissals but expressing no views
as to their legality in general); see also 11 U.S.C. §
1112(b)(1).
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MOJAVE DESERT HOLDINGS, LLC v. CROCS, INC. 5
or against it” and “enabling it . . . to do every other act to
wind up and liquidate its business and affairs.” Nev. Rev.
Stat. § 78.585.
Months later, on July 18, 2019, Mojave filed a petition
with the Board titled, “Request to Change the Real-Party-
in-Interest from Third-Party Requestor U.S.A. Dawgs, Inc.
to Mojave Desert Holding, LLC in Inter Partes Reexamina-
tion/Hearing.” J.A. 3100. The Board expunged and dis-
missed Mojave’s request on August 19, 2019, on various
grounds. First, the Board found that Mojave’s
submissions [were] insufficient to establish Mojave
as a real party[-]in[-]interest and/or Requester in
the instant inter partes reexamination proceeding,
because the initial transfer of assets from U.S.A.
Dawgs, Inc. to U.S.A. Dawgs Holdings, LLC . . . ap-
pears to be silent about any rights with regard to
the instant inter partes reexamination proceeding.
J.A. 176 (citing Agilent Techs., Inc. v. Waters Techs. Corp.,
811 F.3d 1326, 1334 (Fed. Cir. 2016)).
Second, based on its interpretation of the transfer of
assets, the Board rejected Mojave’s filing because Mojave
was “not a party to the instant inter partes reexamination
proceeding” and did “not have standing to update the real
party-in-interest in the proceeding pursuant to [37 C.F.R.]
§ 41.8(a).” J.A. 180. And third, the Board concluded that
Mojave did not file its submission “within 20 days of any
change [of the real party-in-interest] during the proceed-
ing,” as required by 37 C.F.R. § 41.8(a), making it untimely.
J.A. 180.
The first and second grounds appear to be the same.
Based on these grounds, the Board considered Mojave’s
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6 MOJAVE DESERT HOLDINGS, LLC v. CROCS, INC.
petition an “improper submission” under 37 C.F.R. § 1.905 4
and expunged it from the record and dismissed it as well.
J.A. 173–74, 181–82.
On September 10, 2019, the Board issued its decision
reversing the examiner’s rejection of the ’789 patent’s sole
claim. U.S.A. Dawgs appealed to this court. In its Notice
of Appeal, U.S.A. Dawgs stated that Mojave “intend[ed] to
file a motion for substitution of parties” with the court “pur-
suant to Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 43(b).” No-
tice of Appeal at 1 n.1, ECF No. 1. On December 13, 2019,
U.S.A. Dawgs and Mojave filed the motion to substitute.
4 37 C.F.R. § 1.905 states,
Unless specifically provided for, no submission on
behalf of any third parties other than third party
requesters as defined in 35 U.S.C. [§] 100(e) will be
considered unless such submissions are in accord-
ance with § 1.915 [governing the content of re-
quests for inter partes reexaminations] or entered
in the patent file prior to the date of the order for
reexamination pursuant to § 1.931 [governing the
order for inter partes reexamination]. Submissions
by third parties, other than third party requesters,
filed after the date of the order for reexamination
pursuant to § 1.931, must meet the requirements
of § 1.501 [governing the citation of prior art and
written statements in patent files] and will be
treated in accordance with § 1.902 [governing the
processing of prior art citations during inter partes
reexamination proceedings]. Submissions which
do not meet the requirements of § 1.501 will be re-
turned.
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MOJAVE DESERT HOLDINGS, LLC v. CROCS, INC. 7
We now address U.S.A. Dawgs and Mojave’s motion to
substitute. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C.
§ 1295(a)(4)(A).
DISCUSSION
The motion to substitute is made pursuant to Rule
43(b) of the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure, which
provides that, “[i]f a party needs to be substituted for any
reason other than death, the procedure prescribed in Rule
43(a) applies.” Fed. R. App. P. 43(b). 5
Substitution [under Rule 43(b)] may . . . be neces-
sary when a party is incapable of continuing the
suit, such as . . . when a transfer of interest in the
company or property involved in the suit has oc-
curred[] or when the focus of the litigation has
shifted, making another entity the real party in in-
terest.
21 James W. Moore et al., Moore’s Federal Practice – Civil
§ 343.12 (2020).
5 Rule 43(a) provides in pertinent part:
(a) Death of a Party.
...
(2) Before Notice of Appeal Is Filed—Potential
Appellant. If a party entitled to appeal dies be-
fore filing a notice of appeal, the decedent's per-
sonal representative—or, if there is no personal
representative, the decedent’s attorney of rec-
ord—may file a notice of appeal within the time
prescribed by these rules. After the notice of ap-
peal is filed, substitution must be in accordance
with Rule 43(a)(1).
Fed. R. App. P. 43(a)(2).
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8 MOJAVE DESERT HOLDINGS, LLC v. CROCS, INC.
Crocs asserts that U.S.A. Dawgs and Mojave’s motion
to substitute should be denied for several reasons. We dis-
agree.
I
Crocs argues that the Board correctly determined that
Mojave is not the successor-in-interest to U.S.A. Dawgs
with respect to the inter partes reexamination because the
bankruptcy sale did not transfer U.S.A. Dawgs’s interest
as a requester to Dawgs Holdings.
U.S.A. Dawgs assigned all of its assets to Dawgs Hold-
ings through the bankruptcy sale. This assignment was
comprehensive and was described as
[a]ll of [U.S.A. Dawgs’s] right, title and interest in,
to and under all of the assets, properties and rights
of every kind and nature, whether real, personal or
mixed, tangible or intangible (including intellec-
tual property and goodwill), of [U.S.A. Dawgs],
wherever located and whether now existing or
hereafter acquired, owned, leased, licensed or used
or held for use in or relating to the operation of
[U.S.A. Dawgs’s] business as of the Closing Date.
J.A. 3217.
Crocs argues that this case is just like Agilent Technol-
ogies, Inc. v. Waters Technologies Corp., 811 F.3d 1326(Fed. Cir. 2016). In that case, Agilent claimed to be the
successor-in-interest to Aurora, a company that filed a re-
quest for inter partes reexamination. Id. at 1332. Accord-
ing to Agilent, it acquired “substantially all” of the assets
of Aurora. Id. But Aurora continued as an operating entity
and continued to participate before the Board. Id. at
1332–33. Noting that “‘substantially all’ does not mean
‘all,’” we held that it was unclear whether Agilent was Au-
rora’s successor-in-interest because the court “d[id] not
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MOJAVE DESERT HOLDINGS, LLC v. CROCS, INC. 9
know precisely what was transferred” in the assignments.
Id. at 1332.
Here, all of U.S.A. Dawgs’s interests were included as
property of its estate when it filed for bankruptcy. See 5
Collier on Bankruptcy ¶ 541.07 (16th ed. 2020) (“The
[Bankruptcy] Code provides that all interests of the debtor
in rights of action be included as property of the estate un-
der [11 U.S.C. §] 541(a)(1).”). In contrast to Agilent, the
first sale from U.S.A. Dawgs to Dawgs Holdings clearly
transferred all of U.S.A. Dawgs’s assets and claims and did
so using broad language. U.S.A. Dawgs did not need to
enumerate each of its assets individually to effectuate the
broad transfer. U.S.A. Dawgs dissolved and did not con-
tinue to participate before the Board. Under the circum-
stances, the transfer of all assets on its face included the
rights in the Board proceeding.
The second sale similarly assigned Mojave all of Dawgs
Holdings’s assets and claims and, for clarity, specifically
enumerated its interest as the requester in the inter partes
reexamination. The reassignment provided
[t]hat for good and valuable consideration, . . .
[Dawgs Holdings], by these presents does hereby
sell, grant, and convey unto [Mojave] . . . all of
[Dawgs Holdings’s] right, title and interest in and
to all of the Acquired Assets . . . , which, for the
avoidance of doubt, is intended to and does include
all rights of [Dawgs Holdings] in any post-grant
proceeding before the U.S. Patent and Trademark
Office concerning any of the patents at issue . . . ,
including without limitation, inter partes reexami-
nation control no. 95/002,100.
J.A. 3267. As these assignments make clear, Mojave is the
successor-in-interest of U.S.A. Dawgs.
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10 MOJAVE DESERT HOLDINGS, LLC v. CROCS, INC.
II
In a single sentence in its appeal brief, Crocs argues
that, even if Mojave is a successor-in-interest to U.S.A.
Dawgs, Mojave did not seek substitution before the Board
for nearly a year after it acquired U.S.A. Dawgs’s interest
in the inter partes reexamination and that the Board
properly denied substitution on this ground under 37
C.F.R. § 41.8(a). Crocs does not assert that it argued this
before the Board.
37 C.F.R. § 41.8(a) provides:
In an appeal brief . . . or at the initiation of a con-
tested case . . . , and within 20 days of any change
during the proceeding, a party must identify:
(1) Its real party-in-interest, and
(2) Each judicial or administrative proceeding
that could affect, or be affected by, the Board
proceeding.
We do not read 37 C.F.R. § 41.8(a) as permitting the
Board to ignore a transfer of interest in an inter partes
reexamination that has been assigned to a successor-in-in-
terest. The purpose of the rule is to detect conflicts of in-
terest and to enable enforcement of inter partes
reexamination estoppel provisions. 6 The rule is not
6 MPEP § 1205.02 (9th ed. Rev. 10 2020) (“The iden-
tification of the real party in interest allows members of the
Board to comply with ethics regulations associated with
working in matters in which the member has a financial
interest to avoid any potential conflict of interest.”); MPEP
§ 2612 (8th ed. Rev. 7 2008) (noting that “it is the real party
in interest that is subject to the estoppel provisions”); id.
§ 2686.04 (explaining the USPTO’s procedures to enforce
the inter partes reexamination estoppel provisions); see
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MOJAVE DESERT HOLDINGS, LLC v. CROCS, INC. 11
directly related to substitution. Notably, in the federal dis-
trict courts, there is no time limit attached to a party mov-
ing for substitution on the basis of a transfer in interest.
See Fed. R. Civ. P. 25(c) (“If an interest is transferred, the
action may be continued by or against the original party
unless the court, on motion, orders the transferee to be sub-
stituted in the action or joined with the original party.”).
As Wright and Miller observe, “[s]ince Rule 25(c) is wholly
permissive there is no time limit on moving to substitute
under its provisions.” 7C Charles Alan Wright, Arthur R.
Miller, et al., Federal Practice and Procedure § 1958 (3d ed.
2020). In line with this view, the Board has permitted par-
ties to continue appeals after a change in the real party-in-
interest despite the parties not filing the notices as re-
quired by 37 C.F.R. § 41.8. 7
If the Board were permitted to preclude substitution on
the basis of a transfer in interest because of a late filing,
this would defeat the important interest in having the
proper party before the Board. The Board erred by not
also 145 Cong. Rec. 26, 984 (1999) (statement of Sen.
Hatch) (noting that the inter partes reexamination statute
includes provisions intended to “prevent abusive reexami-
nation requests, including broad estoppel provisions”).
7 See, e.g., Ex parte Young, No. 2014-2951, 2016 Pat.
App. LEXIS 2112, at *1 n.1 (P.T.A.B. May 17, 2016) (per-
mitting a party to continue with an appeal of an ex parte
patent application under 37 C.F.R. § 41.8 despite not filing
a notice of a change to the real party-in-interest within
twenty days of a merger with another company but “re-
mind[ing]” the party of its ongoing duty to do so); Ex parte
Bandholz, No. 2014-2942, 2016 Pat. App. LEXIS 5083, at
*1 n.1 (P.T.A.B. May 10, 2016) (permitting the same after
assignment of the patent application to a new corporation).
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12 MOJAVE DESERT HOLDINGS, LLC v. CROCS, INC.
substituting Mojave as the third-party requester while the
inter partes reexamination was pending before the Board. 8
III
Crocs additionally argues that the interest of a re-
quester cannot be assigned under the statute governing ap-
peals from inter partes reexamination.
The right of a third-party requester to appeal to this
court comes from 35 U.S.C. § 141, which states:
A patent owner, or a third-party requester in an in-
ter partes reexamination proceeding, who is in any
reexamination proceeding dissatisfied with the fi-
nal decision in an appeal to the Board . . . under
section 134 may appeal the decision only to the
8 We note that, in district court proceedings, a trans-
fer of interest that occurs after the initiation of a lawsuit
may cause the court to lose jurisdiction unless the jurisdic-
tional defect caused by the transfer of the original party’s
interest is cured prior to the entry of final judgment.
Schreiber Foods, Inc. v. Beatrice Cheese, Inc., 402 F.3d
1198, 1203–04 & 1204 n.6 (Fed. Cir. 2005) (noting but not
deciding the issue).
Here, the transfer of U.S.A. Dawgs’s assets took place
while the inter partes reexamination was pending before
the Board at the USPTO, and substitution did not occur
before the Board’s final decision. Unlike cases before a fed-
eral court, however, Article III standing is not necessary at
the USPTO. Consumer Watchdog, 753 F.3d at 1261. As a
result, the transfer of interest occurring before the Board
had no effect on the Board’s authority to decide the case.
Crocs makes no argument that the timing of the transfer
prevented the Board from deciding the case.
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MOJAVE DESERT HOLDINGS, LLC v. CROCS, INC. 13
United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Cir-
cuit.
We have previously concluded that the statutory structure
prohibits “mere privies” from appealing a reexamination
because, under the statutory structure, “mere privies lack
a cause of action.” Agilent, 811 F.3d at 1331. And we also
observed that, “[w]hile the language of the statute does not
explicitly forbid a change in the identity of the third-party
requester over the course of the proceeding or on appeal,
. . . it similarly does not appear to address whether and un-
der what circumstances a change in the identity of the
third-party requester can occur.” Id. at 1332. We reserved
the question whether the statute permitted substitution.
Id. at 1332, 1334.
The Supreme Court’s decision in Sprint Communica-
tions Co. v. APCC Services, Inc., 554 U.S. 269 (2008), rec-
ognizes that, at common law, choses in action were
generally assignable and appears to hold that this general
rule is applicable to federal causes of action. As the Court
explained, “history and precedents . . . make clear that
courts have long found ways to allow assignees to bring
suit.” Id. at 285 (holding that a federal cause of action that
permitted payphone operators to seek compensation from
long-distance carriers for certain calls was assignable);
Spiller v. Atchison, T. & S.F. Ry. Co., 253 U.S. 117, 133–36
(1920) (permitting assignment of federal causes of action
for reparation orders made by the Interstate Commerce
Commission “in the absence of any expression of a legisla-
tive intent to the contrary”); see also John Wiley & Sons,
Inc. v. DRK Photo, 882 F.3d 394, 416–17 (2d Cir. 2018)
(Parker, J., dissenting) (collecting cases). This rule applies
even when the statute in question provides for suit by the
transferor. See Spiller, 253 U.S. at 133–36.
To be sure, there are exceptions. In Crown Die & Tool
Co. v. Nye Tool & Machine Works, 261 U.S. 24 (1923), the
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14 MOJAVE DESERT HOLDINGS, LLC v. CROCS, INC.
Supreme Court held that the assignment of the right to sue
for past patent infringement, by itself, does not give the as-
signee the right to bring suit without joining the patent
owner. Id. at 39–41; see also Lone Star Silicon Innovations
LLC v. Nanya Tech. Corp., 925 F.3d 1225, 1233–34 (Fed.
Cir. 2019) (recognizing that patentees cannot award a
“hunting license” to third parties); Prima Tek II, L.L.C. v.
A-Roo Co., 222 F.3d 1372, 1381 (Fed. Cir. 2000) (same).
And the Second Circuit has held that the right to sue for
copyright infringement cannot be assigned separately from
the copyright owner’s exclusive rights. Wiley & Sons, 882
F.3d at 410.
Both lines of cases rely on the policy against separating
the right to exclude from the right to sue for infringement.
Here, it may well be that the right of the requester to ap-
peal cannot be separated from the requester’s potential li-
ability for infringement. But we are aware of no case that
suggests that a federal claim is lost when it is transferred
together with the assignor’s entire business. Where, as
here, the requester’s right has been transferred together
with all other assets, there is no reason that the requester’s
right to challenge the Board’s decision cannot be effectively
transferred. To refuse to recognize such a transfer where
the other assets remain subject to infringement liability
would create a situation in which the assets remained po-
tentially liable for infringement, but the transferee would
have lost the right to challenge patent validity. Crocs
points to nothing in the statutory structure or legislative
history of the inter partes reexamination statute that sug-
gests that the general rule regarding the assignment of
causes of action should not apply to this situation, and we
similarly are aware of none. We hold that, under the stat-
ute, the requester’s right (including its right to appeal) may
be transferred at least when it occurs as part of the transfer
of the requester’s entire business or assets.
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MOJAVE DESERT HOLDINGS, LLC v. CROCS, INC. 15
Vaillancourt v. Becton Dickinson & Co., 749 F.3d 1368(Fed. Cir. 2014), is not to the contrary. In Vaillancourt, the
individual owner of a patent transferred his interest in the
patent to a corporation while an inter partes reexamina-
tion was pending before the Board. Id. at 1369. The Board
affirmed the examiner’s rejection, and the individual filed
a notice of appeal to this court. Id. We concluded that the
individual could not bring the appeal because the new cor-
poration was “indisputably the owner of the . . . patent, and
held all right, title, and interest to the patent when [the
individual] filed the notice of appeal with this court.” Id.
at 1370. The court considered no issue of substitution be-
cause substitution had not been requested either before the
Board or on appeal. Vaillancourt is inapplicable.
IV
Crocs argues that, even if Mojave is the successor-in-
interest to U.S.A. Dawgs, Mojave lacks standing because it
does not face a potential suit for infringement. Again, we
disagree.
Article III of the Constitution limits the judicial power
to “Cases” and “Controversies.” U.S. Const. art. III, § 2,
cl. 1. “Standing to sue is a doctrine rooted in the traditional
understanding of a case or controversy.” Spokeo, Inc. v.
Robins, 136 S. Ct. 1540, 1547 (2016). It is well established
that “the irreducible constitutional minimum of standing
contains three elements”: injury in fact, causation, and re-
dressability. Lujan v. Defs. of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555,
560–61 (1992). “To establish Article III standing, an injury
must be ‘concrete, particularized, and actual or imminent;
fairly traceable to the challenged action; and redressable
by a favorable ruling.’” Clapper v. Amnesty Int’l USA, 568
U.S. 398, 409 (2013) (citation omitted).
“These constitutional requirements for standing apply
on appeal” and “apply with equal force to appeals from ad-
ministrative agencies, such as the [USPTO], to the federal
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16 MOJAVE DESERT HOLDINGS, LLC v. CROCS, INC.
courts.” Consumer Watchdog v. Wis. Alumni Rsch. Found.,
753 F.3d 1258, 1261 (Fed. Cir. 2014) (citations omitted). To
establish an Article III injury on appeal from an inter
partes reexamination, we have previously held that it is
sufficient for an appellant to show that it has engaged in
“activity that would give rise to a possible infringement
suit.” Id. at 1262.
Mojave has standing as U.S.A. Dawgs’s successor-in-
interest. The sale agreement approved by the bankruptcy
court specifically provided that the transferred assets
“[were] not free and clear of any Claims Crocs, Inc. . . . may
hold for patent infringement occurring post-Closing Date
by any person including the Prevailing Bidder.” J.A. 3175.
The acquired assets thus face potential patent infringe-
ment claims. Moreover, Mojave also could face potential
patent infringement liability because of activities after the
bankruptcy sale relating to the sale of acquired inventory
that is alleged to infringe. 9
Mojave also meets the other two requirements of stand-
ing. Mojave’s injury is traceable to the challenged ’789 pa-
tent, which has been asserted by Crocs in the District of
Colorado litigation, and would be redressed by a favorable
ruling in this court that reversed the Board’s finding of pa-
tentability of the ’789 patent.
9 Mojave may also suffer an Article III injury as a
result of the false advertising counterclaims in the District
of Colorado litigation that it acquired from U.S.A. Dawgs.
Mojave acquired U.S.A. Dawgs’s false advertising counter-
claims subject to “any rights to setoff or recoupment” by
Crocs. J.A. 3175. Thus, Crocs’s infringement claim, if suc-
cessful, may reduce Crocs’s liability on Mojave’s false ad-
vertising claim.
Case: 20-1167 Document: 65 Page: 17 Filed: 02/11/2021
MOJAVE DESERT HOLDINGS, LLC v. CROCS, INC. 17
V
Crocs also argues that Mojave failed to file a notice of
appeal from the Board’s decision. Mojave could not file a
notice of appeal because it had not been added as a party
by the Board to the inter partes reexamination proceeding.
Under Nevada law, however, U.S.A. Dawgs retained the
ability to file a protective notice of appeal, 10 and did so on
November 8, 2019. That was sufficient to confer jurisdic-
tion on this court. Other courts have apparently reached
similar conclusions. See, e.g., Barger v. City of Cartersville,
348 F.3d 1289, 1291–93 (11th Cir. 2003) (determining that
the notice of appeal filed by transferor was sufficient), over-
ruled on other grounds by Slater v. U.S. Steel Corp., 871
F.3d 1174 (11th Cir. 2017); ELCA Enters., Inc. v. Sisco
Equipment Rental & Sales, Inc., 53 F.3d 186, 190–91 (8th
Cir. 1995) (permitting party denied substitution before the
district court to appeal despite transferring all interest in
lawsuit).
* * *
We therefore conclude that Mojave is the successor-in-
interest to U.S.A. Dawgs, that it has standing to pursue
this challenge to the ’789 patent, and that the Board erred
in not substituting Mojave for U.S.A. Dawgs as the third-
party requester during the inter partes reexamination.
Under these circumstances, we think that no useful
purpose would be served by remanding to the Board to add
10 Nevada law permits U.S.A. Dawgs to “continue[] as
a body corporate for the purpose of prosecuting and defend-
ing suits, actions, proceedings and claims of any kind or
character by or against it and of enabling it gradually . . .
to wind up and liquidate its business and affairs, but not
for the purpose of continuing the business for which it was
established.” Nev. Rev. Stat. § 78.585.
Case: 20-1167 Document: 65 Page: 18 Filed: 02/11/2021
18 MOJAVE DESERT HOLDINGS, LLC v. CROCS, INC.
Mojave as the requester and that the appropriate course is
to grant the motion to substitute on appeal pursuant to
Rule 43(b) of the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure. See
Mullaney v. Anderson, 342 U.S. 415, 417 (1952); 11 see also
Newman-Green, Inc. v. Alfonzo-Larrain, 490 U.S. 826,
833–34 (1989) (reaffirming Mullaney); Carlton v. Baww,
Inc., 751 F.2d 781, 789 (5th Cir. 1985) (permitting amend-
ment to a pleading at the appellate court because “it ap-
pear[ed] plainly from [the] record that jurisdiction exists,”
and as a result, “it best serve[d] the interests of justice to
grant the motion for leave to amend [in the appellate
court], without requiring a perfunctory remand for that
purpose” (citations omitted)).
Accordingly,
IT IS ORDERED THAT:
(1) The motion to substitute is granted.
(2) The revised official caption is reflected above.
11 In Mullaney, while on review in the Supreme
Court, the Court added a plaintiff to the litigation under
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 21 without requiring the
new plaintiff to return to the district court because of the
“special circumstances” before the Court, including that re-
turning to the district court “would entail needless waste
and runs counter to the effective judicial administration,”
that changing the parties would not have “affected the
course of the litigation” if it had occurred at some earlier
point, and that amending the parties in this way would
“rarely come into play” at such a late stage in litigation.
342 U.S. at 417.
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MOJAVE DESERT HOLDINGS, LLC v. CROCS, INC. 19
FOR THE COURT
February 11, 2021 /s/ Peter R. Marksteiner
Date Peter R. Marksteiner
Clerk of Court